By: Natasha Archary

Zambian MP, Remember Mutale is proposing that government regulate the age limit for children to own phones as a way of curbing cyberbullying and cybercrimes in the country.
Mutale says that children are being exposed to pornographic and other lewd content from a young age because they are being given cellphones from as young as the age of 3-years.
However, Mutale’s proposal has been met with rejection from Acting Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Malozo Sichone who says that putting an age restriction on when children be given smart devices is against the country’s aspirations for technological advancement.
This led the Kaya Drive team to discuss whether they have any cellphone rules in their household, particularly relating to their kids.
As cool as Thomas and Skhumba may seem, when it comes to their kids, they will not shy away when it comes to ensuring their kids are safe. This goes for their online activity as well.
Both Thomas and Skhumba say they would like to monitor their child/ren’s online activity, raising concerns such as the type of content their kids are posting on social media and what they’re exposed to.
For Skhumba, it doesn’t matter how old his kids are but when they get cellphones there will be no passcodes or fingerprint lock activated.
Skhumba says he needs to have access to his kids phones at all times so he can make sure they are not planning on meeting strangers or having conversations that he would not want them to be having.
Thomas is concerned about his 12-year old daughter being on TikTok, saying it makes him uneasy when she takes her cellphone into the bathroom with her to record TikTok videos.
His daughter is also up late at night chatting to her friends on WhatsApp and will be up until the early morning, which he says is not healthy.
The new age dads are aware that kids are more technologically savvy now, but say without cellphone rules in your household, kids will not have a guideline of what’s right and what’s wrong.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Drive:
Also read: Kids ask weird questions: here are some questions parents are tired of having to answer



